Dissident filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof has revealed he had just a two-hour window to decide whether to remain in Iran and face arrest or flee the country to ensure his freedom.
Speaking to Screen from Cannes, where his latest feature The Seed Of The Sacred Fig is set to world premiere in Competition tomorrow (May 24), the Iranian auteur looked relieved to have secured his own safety but was reflective on the society he had left behind and his own future as a filmmaker.
“I was left with no other option,” said Rasoulof, who was sentenced to eight years in prison and a flogging from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Court for making public statements, films and documentaries considered “examples of collusion with the intention of committing a crime against the country’s security”.
“[When] it was confirmed that the appeal court confirmed the same sentence… I knew I would have very little time before they would actually come and arrest me,” he recalled. “I had two hours to make the decision whether I would stay and potentially go to jail or flee and that’s what I did.”
The director discarded all electronic devices and trekked across a mountainous borderland on foot before securing shelter in Germany.
Rasoulof, who won Berlin’s Golden Bear in 2020 with There Is No Evil and the top prize in Un Certain Regard at Cannes in 2018 with A Man Of Integrity, said he remained optimistic of a return to his home country as “this situation cannot go on for long in Iran and it will change”.
However, he also admitted that many of his fellow artists have the same wish but have not been able to return after decades in exile.
“I just try not to focus on this but on starting to create again with new restrictions,” he added of his future filmmaking plans. “I’ve been trained to work with restrictions so I’m sure I can adjust to the new ones that are given to me [making films outside of Iran].”
In the full interview below, Rasoulof talks about why he continues to make films that draw the ire of Iranian authorities; shooting The Seed Of The Sacred Fig; the significance of a high-profile selection at Cannes; and the death of Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi, foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and six others in a helicopter crash on Sunday (May 19).
Films Boutique is handling worldwide sales rights to the film, which has been picked up by Neon for North America while Pyramide Films set to distribute in France this autumn.
How are you feeling right now, following all you’ve been through in recent weeks?
Well, I’m fine. I feel happy to be safe, having been through this very dangerous process where I could potentially go to jail for many years so I feel really grateful and happy to be out of Iran. But, at the same time, I feel some pain because I’m away from what was my daily life in Iran, which did matter a lot to me. I’m the kind of person who is really close to my people and would go out onto the street to take a taxi or go shopping. This is something that can seem quite frivolous but for me as an artist and as a filmmaker it’s extremely important to have this contact with people. But I was left with no other option.
Are you concerned you will now be permanently exiled after fleeing Iran?
My feeling is that this situation cannot go on for long in Iran and it will change so I will be able to go back. But at the same time, I don’t know if I can really rely on this impression because I’m aware that many of my compatriots have been out of Iran for decades, thinking that they are about to go back and having their suitcase ready. I just try not to think about it or focus on this but to focus on the fact of starting to create again but with new restrictions. I’ve been trained now to work with restrictions so I’m sure I can adjust to the new ones that are given to me [making films outside of Iran].
We heard the news of the Iranian president’s death on Sunday. [President Ebrahim Raisi died alongside foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and six others in a helicopter crash near the border with Azerbaijan.] Do you have any thoughts around this?
The only thought and reflection that triggers in my mind is what has happened in my country to make my people and myself feel happy for a few people losing their lives. What level of injustice, repression and pressure has been put on the people so that the only reaction we have when something completely unexpected like this happens is that there are a few people less in this repressive, unjust, atrocity machine that they have created. There are now a few people less at the head of this machine.
How close were you to being apprehended by the authorities?
I was in the middle of the shooting [The Seed Of The Sacred Fig] when I received confirmation of the sentence. The case was already open against me with the potential sentence of eight years jail among other punishments so when I found out that the sentence was confirmed, I was worried because I was already working undercover and it was a difficult process. I wondered how to carry on working and my only relief was that I knew there would be an appeal court, which would take some time. In the meantime, while it went to the second court and was confirmed and they implemented the sentence, it would give me time to finish the film. And that’s what happened.
Luckily, it was also close to the New Year holiday in Iran, which is a two-week holiday in spring and it was only after the holiday when I had finished shooting that it was confirmed that the appeal court confirmed the same sentence. Then I knew I would have very little time before they would actually come and arrest me. So I had two hours to make the decision whether I would stay and potentially go to jail or flee and that’s what I did. In two hours, I decided to leave all my electronic devices at home and to be taken to a safe place before I actually crossed the border and left the country.
When did you shoot the film?
We could not shoot continuously. We had a few days and would then stop. It was over a period of three months from late December to March. I started getting the editing done out of Iran, with an editor [Andrew Bird] with whom I had already worked, who was not Iranian. But for the shooting, we probably had 70 days scattered over three months. Post-production took place in Germany.
Why do you make these films that bring you so much trouble?
[Long pause] Maybe I should go and see a psychoanalyst because what matters most to me is my freedom and my human rights. That is the main preoccupation of my life. I love cinema but I would exchange cinema for my human rights because I’m sure that [if] I’m given back my human rights back then I can make films again.
Do you also make films to reflect on the state of society in your country?
I’m extremely sensitive and influenced by my surroundings and what is going on in the society in which I live. Because of this concern and this way of relating to the world, I’ve been put in prison for years. I’ve been in solitary confinement, when you are just on your own and you can do nothing but lay down and think. I’ve been in collective cells in which you meet all kinds of very interesting people. All this is just because I go on being obsessed, interested and concerned by what goes on around me.
What does it mean to get your film selected in Competition at Cannes, both to you and Iranian artists?
I’m happy that, in Cannes, you can get an image of people’s real life in Iran and what’s going on now in Iran – something that has been made away from censorship, out of censorship. This is a message of hope to Iranian artists, to show that it’s possible, and they can try and reflect the reality of Iran without censorship and try to commit to this path.
What do you hope international audiences will take from the film?
Although the film takes place in Iran, its goal is not to deliver any information about Iran or to give an insight of what’s going on specifically in Iran. It will help the audience relate to the truth of the characters. There are several themes but if there is one to take away it is the obedience or devotion of some people to a system. This is a reflection you can have about many other places and situations beyond the ones going on in Iran.
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